Many actuated parts for automotive vehicles such as handles, glove compartment covers, ash tray covers or the like are biased into one of a pair of positions by spring means. For example, handles are returned to their rest positions by spring means. Glove compartment covers are moved by spring means into their open positions after a manual unlocking operation. These movements caused by the spring means are suddenly interrupted by abutment means. This may cause the generation of more or less substantial noise.
German Patent Specification 33 16 256 discloses a rotary damper to be used for damping such movements as caused by spring means. A sealed chamber of a housing includes a liquid. A shaft extending from the chamber includes a vane of sector-shaped cross-section. At its periphery the vane has a circular contour conforming to the circular contour of the cylindrical chamber. A radial gap between the vane and the adjacent chamber wall provides a flow restriction through which the liquid is forced to pass when the housing and the shaft are rotated relative to each other.
German Utility Model 87 07 936 discloses a rotary damper having a vane provided with one or a plurality of through-bores through which the liquid flows so as to provide for a braking or dampening effect.
Such rotary dampers can be of very small size and accordingly may be used at locations where the available space is limited. They can be made from simple plastic parts so that manufacturing and assembly expenditure are comparatively low. The prior art rotary dampers are generally constructed so that they have similar dampening characteristics in both directions of rotation. When for example a glove compartment cover is opened by a suitable spring means, the closing thereof has to be performed manually. Accordingly, when a rotary damper as described above is associated with such a glove compartment cover, the closing of the glove compartment is dampened in the same manner as the opening thereof.